On Christmas Day 2018 Joy Morgan’s mother, Carol Morgan, was spending time with her three children Dionne, Earl and Shonah. However, one person was missing – Carol’s daughter Joy.
Carol tried to persuade Joy to join the family at her aunt’s house for a Boxing Day celebration. She had even offered to pay for a taxi however, Joy refused. The reason Behind all of this was she bad become a member of a strict church, which discouraged members from celebrating Christian festivals.
Joy was studying midwifery at the University of Hertfordshire when she disappeared. She wanted to go on to be a doctor.
Joy Morgan – FACEBOOK/Hertfordshire Police
Many relatives of Joy had passed away in past years including her father. Her family says it was not long after that Joy started to get interested in a US-based church called Israel United in Christ (IUIC).
IUIC was founded in 2003 in New York and is part of the movement called the Black Hebrew Israelites. It has around 40 churches around the country. The IUIC teaches that black people, Hispanics and Native American people are God’s chosen ones. Its leaders teach classes on YouTube on topics such as: “Why white people hate black people”, “A strong marriage makes for a strong nation” and “Black people must leave the Christian Church”.
Joy had first came across IUIC on the internet and in January 2016 she joined the UK branch of the organisation. Joy then would distance herself from her family and would target her younger sisters for being mixed race. She had even told her little sister she was a ‘white devil’. Joy then left the family home and became homeless before being rehoused by the local council then she moved into student accommodation in her first year of uni.
Joy was asked to attend a family meal on December 26th 2018 but did not make it due to being at a celebration at the IUIC church.
Six weeks after Carol asked Joy to the family meal she received a phone call saying Joy had failed to pay her rent and her house mates had not seen her since Christmas. Joy did not make contact with her family therefore it took a while for them to realise she was actually missing.
On February 7th, Carol reported her daughter missing and the police started to investigate. Police started to talk with fellow church friend Shohfah-El Israel, he said the last time he had seen Joy was on December 26th during the church meal and he had given her a lift to her flat afterwards.
Two days later, officers pulled over his red Honda car and arrested him for the murder of Joy Morgan. After being told he was being arrested the first thing he said was:
“She’s dead?”
“I just want to ask if she’s dead? I just want to ask if you know if she’s dead, cos this is a shock. Is she dead?”
He and his wife were friends of Joy and the couple had two homes a flat in Cricklewood, north London, and a rented house in Luton, Bedfordshire.
After Shohfah-El Israel’s arrest, he was questioned for two days then released on bail. He was later charged but pleaded not guilty.
Shohfah-El Israel// Hertfordshire Police
Police then focused their search in parts of Stevenage in Hertfordshire. Searches were done in woodens on the outskirts of town.
The trial for the murder of Joy started on July 8th 2019. The court listened to how Shohfah-El Israel told police he had dropped Joy back at her flat on December 26th. However, phone evidence later revealed that Joy’s phone and Shohfah-El Israel’s phone were in this flat in Cricklewood together for two nights after the 26th. That is where he admitted he had taken Joy back to his flat where she slept on the sofa.
Shohfah-El Israel then went on to explain how Joy was upset and was thinking of leaving the church after watching videos online of ex-IUIC members in the US sharing why they left. He also said he dropped her home on December 28th. On 28 December at around 19:30, Joy’s mobile number was suddenly removed from a church group instant messaging chat on Telegram. This is one of the ways people in the group can show they have left the organisation. Prosecutors said that Shohfah-El Israel had removed her number and kept ringing her days after as a cover up after he killed her.
Joy’s phone later gave of a signal on New Year’s Day in Stevenage, Shohfah-El Israel’s phone was also was picked up in the same area. Police later found Joy’s house keys in his red Honda car seven weeks after she last seen.
After a four week trial, Shohfah-El Israel was found guilty of the murder of Joy Morgan.
Joy’s body has never been found and no one knows why she was murdered. Unless Shohfah-El Israel speaks about where the body is or why he did it, no one will ever know.
